A compelling case for the value of ascorbic acid in man’s fight to overcome his greatest natural enemies, including cancer, heart disease, mental illness and the common cold. THE HEALING FACTOR “Vitamin C” Against Disease IRWIN STONE with Forewords by Nobel Laureates Dr. Linus Pauling Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi 1 “This is an important book – important to laymen, and important to physicians and scientists interested in the health of the people.” -- Linus Pauling “The medical profession itself took a very narrow and very wrong view. Lack of ascorbic acid caused scurvy, so if there was no scurvy there was no lack of ascorbic acid. Nothing could be clearer than this. The only trouble was that scurvy is not a first symptom of lack but a final collapse, a premortal syndrome and there is a very wide gap between scurvy and full health.” -- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi After 40 years research, Irwin Stone unfolds his startling conclusion that an ancient genetic mutation has left the primate virtually alone among animals in not producing ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in his own body. By treating it as a "minimum daily requirement" instead of the crucial enzyme it really is, we are living in a state of sub-clinical scurvy whose symptoms have been attributed to other ailments. The answer is to change our thinking about Vitamin C and consume enough to replenish this long-lost "healing factor." Stone illustrates, with massive documentation, Vitamin C's remarkable ability to fight disease, counteract the ill effects of pollution and prolong healthy life -- easily and inexpensively! "THIS MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK ON HEALTH EVER WRITTEN." —National Health Federation Bulletin 2 THE HEALING FACTOR "VITAMIN C" Against Disease Irwin Stone Copyright © 1972 by Irwin Stone All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 72-77105 ISBN 0-399-50764-7 This digital version prepared by Vision Earth Society, with permission. version 20150318-001 3 This book is dedicated to my wife, Barbara whose patience and collaboration over the years made it possible. 4 CONTENTS FOREWORD - by Linus Pauling, Ph.D. - Nobel Laureate............................6 FOREWORD - by Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, M.D., Ph.D. - Nobel Laureate......7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................8 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................10 PART I - Our Deadly Inheritance.................................................................12 1. THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE..............................................................13 2. FROM FISHES TO MAMMALS.........................................................18 3. OUR ANCESTRAL PRIMATE...........................................................21 4. THE EVOLUTION OF MAN...............................................................25 5. FROM PREHISTORY TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY..............30 6. THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES..........36 7. FINDING THE ELUSIVE MOLECULE...............................................41 8. THE GENETIC APPROACH.............................................................44 9. SOME EFFECTS OF ASCORBIC ACID...........................................49 10. "CORRECTING" NATURE................................................................54 PART II - Pathways to Research.................................................................60 11. BREAKING THE 'VITAMIN' BARRIER..............................................61 12. THE COMMON COLD.......................................................................65 13. VIRAL INFECTION............................................................................71 14. BACTERIAL INFECTION..................................................................78 15. CANCER............................................................................................89 16. THE HEART, VASCULAR SYSTEM, AND STROKES.....................97 17. ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM....................................................105 18. AGING.............................................................................................110 19. HAY FEVER....................................................................................116 20. EYE CONDITIONS......................................................................... 122 21. ULCERS......................................................................................... 128 22. KIDNEYS AND BLADDER..............................................................133 23. DIABETES AND HYPOGLYCEMIA................................................140 24. CHEMICAL STRESSES -- POISONS, TOXINS.............................146 25. PHYSICAL STRESSES..................................................................156 26. POLLUTION AND SMOKER'S SCURVY.......................................164 27. WOUNDS, BONE FRACTURES, AND SHOCK.............................169 28. PREGNANCY ................................................................................ 177 29. MENTAL DISEASES.......................................................................183 30. THE FUTURE..................................................................................187 REFERENCES CITED FROM THE MEDICAL LITERATURE..................190 GLOSSARY.............................................................................................. 242 The numerals set off in parenthesis in the text are intended to guide the reader to the appropriate medical citation listed at the end of the book, by chapter. 5 FOREWORD by Linus Pauling, Ph.D. - Nobel Laureate This is an important book -- important to laymen, and important to physicians and scientists interested in the health of people. Irwin Stone deserves much credit for having marshalled the arguments that indicate that most human beings have been receiving amounts of ascorbic acid less than those required to put them in the best of health. It is his contention, and it is supported by much evidence, that most people in the world have a disease involving a deficient intake of ascorbic acid, a disease that he has named hypoascorbemia. This disease seems to be present because of an evolutionary accident that occurred many millions of years ago. Ancestors of human beings (and of their close present-day relatives, other primates) were living in an area where the natural foods available provided very large amounts of ascorbic acid (very large in comparison with the amounts usually ingested now and the amounts usually recommended now by physicians and other authorities on nutrition). A mutation occurred that removed from the mutant the ability to manufacture ascorbic acid within his own body. Circumstances were such that the mutant had an evolutionary advantage over the other members of the population, who were burdened with the machinery for manufacturing additional ascorbic acid. The result was that the part of the population burdened with this machinery gradually died out, leaving the mutants, who depended upon their food for an adequate supply of ascorbic acid. As man has spread over the earth and increased in number, the supplies of ascorbic acid have decreased. It is possible that most people in the world receive only one or two percent of the amounts of ascorbic acid that would keep them in the best of health. The resulting hypoascorbemia may be responsible for many of the illnesses that plague mankind. In this book, Irwin Stone summarizes the evidence. The publication of Irwin Stone's papers and of this book may ultimately result in a great improvement in the health of human beings everywhere, and a great decrease in the amount of suffering caused by disease. 6 FOREWORD by Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, M.D., Ph.D. – Nobel Laureate My own interest in ascorbic acid centered around its role in vegetable respiration and defense mechanisms. All the same, I always had the feeling that not enough use was made of it for supporting human health. The reasons were rather complex. The medical profession itself took a very narrow and wrong view. Lack of ascorbic acid caused scurvy, so if there was no scurvy there was no lack of ascorbic acid. Nothing could be clearer than this. The only trouble was that scurvy is not a first symptom of lack but a final collapse, a premortal syndrome, and there is a very wide gap between scurvy and full health. But nobody knows what full health is! This could be found out by wide statistical studies, but there is no organization which could and would arrange such studies. Our society spends billions or trillions on killing and destruction but lacks the relatively modest means demanded to keep its own health and prime interest cared for. Full health, in my opinion, is the condition in which we feel best and show the greatest resistance to disease. This leads us into statistics which demand organization. But there is another, more individual difficulty. If you do not have sufficient vitamins and get a cold, and as a sequence pneumonia, your diagnosis will not be "lack of ascorbic acid" but "pneumonia." So you are waylaid immediately. I think that mankind owes a serious thanks to Irwin Stone for having kept the problem alive and having called Linus Pauling's attention to it. On my last visit to Sweden, I was told that the final evidence has been found that ascorbic acid is quite harmless. An insane person had the fixed idea that he needed ascorbic acid so he swallowed incredible amounts of it for a considerable period without